Unfiltered Honey? Yay or Nay

[UBB]

Wanting to try my hand at some mead.

I can make a decent buy on some local bulk honey. I was told it is unfiltered and will be the consistency of shortening.

Can I/should I consider using this for mead making??

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You can always warm it up and filter it yourself but why not just use it as is after you warm it up a little to get it to be pourable, all the bug parts are going to settle out with the gross lees anyway. We use raw filtered honey just because that is what our local beeguys have but if we get our own hives I plan on just crushing the comb into the must and letting everything go from there, bug parts, comb etc should all settle out or float away (I think, havent done it like that yet). Cracked

 

[mmadmikes1]

Go ahead, good deals are great to find. Heat to about 120 with some water added for 10 minutes and most of the wax will separate and float. So will some bug parts. No worry, honey is as clean a product as you can get. Like CC said the rest will settle to bottom

 

[Wade E]

I agree with cracked cork. Everything will settle out just fine. Whne big vineyards make wine do you think they wash and remove and foreign objects? You may like to think they do bit youd be wrong at least with most. What do you think makes it organic? LOL

 

[mmadmikes1]

LOLOLOL I am making organic wine yes

 

[UBB]

Ok thanks folks. I'll go ahead with it then. It's worth a go for $1.29/lb of local honey I think.

 

[fatbloke]

Ok thanks folks. I'll go ahead with it then. It's worth a go for $1.29/lb of local honey I think.

people worry about honey that's raw, but there's no reason too.

After all, if it's not been filtered, then it will still have all the aromatics and more subtle flavouring elements in it.

If it's got hive/bee debris in it, then that's also nothing to worry about, as that will all drop out or get removed by the racking and clearing process.

At that price, it's a good buy.

Hell, get enough for a traditional batch and a little more and do a batch of JAO, well that's what I'd be doing anyway.

Oh, and don't forget, it's a must you're mixing, not a wort, so it doesn't need to be heated at all. Even if it's a little bit crystalised, just scoop it out the jar's/jugs/whatever and blitz it with some of the water you're gonna use in a food processor/liquidiser. That way it's well mixed in and also aerated nicely.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

We just made a mead this week and I had bought some of the comb honey for fun this fall, I dropped it into the vat from some steamed blackberries and the caps melted right off and the honey came out and just left the comb behind which was easily removed. If we get our own bees one day I think we will just cut off the comb and add it straight off into the must and crush it up a bit. I wonder how much of a mess a grape crusher would turn into crushing honeycomb Cracked

 

[fatbloke]

We just made a mead this week and I had bought some of the comb honey for fun this fall, I dropped it into the vat from some steamed blackberries and the caps melted right off and the honey came out and just left the comb behind which was easily removed. If we get our own bees one day I think we will just cut off the comb and add it straight off into the must and crush it up a bit. I wonder how much of a mess a grape crusher would turn into crushing honeycomb Cracked

Probably a very messy experience will result. Honey is routinely "spun" from comb that's had the caps cut off and the late Brother Adam (bee breeding and mead making) of Buckfast Abbey, used to make his meads with just the capping/comb washings. Though whether the actual process of washing the combs/cappings was to crush and rinse or just rinse whole would be anyones guess.

It does make a hell of a mess though. Even just cutting the caps and spinning the comb, it seems to go everywhere.....

Gotta be worth a go though. Hell even making an elderberry melomel sounds excellent... and I'd suspect you'd be the man for that CC

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Hi FatBloke, I just used the whole comb, didnt cut off the caps, it is sold like that over here as some people think the wax is good for their digestion. When I went to transfer it to the carboy the wax was just like it was washed out, all the honey was gone and ate up by the yeast, no mess whatsoever. We did get a gold at the winemakers mag comp for our elderberry mead. Our meads are more like fruit wine with all the sugar coming from either the fruit or honey and we backsweeten with honey. Crackedcork

 

[mobilecabinworks]

You can always warm it up and filter it yourself but why not just use it as is after you warm it up a little to get it to be pourable, all the bug parts are going to settle out with the gross lees anyway. We use raw filtered honey just because that is what our local beeguys have but if we get our own hives I plan on just crushing the comb into the must and letting everything go from there, bug parts, comb etc should all settle out or float away (I think, havent done it like that yet). Cracked

I would not advise putting all of the comb in there. Alcohol will breakdown the wax and give you funky flavors. Not that the wax wouldn't be good for you, but the flavors would not be great.

 

[mobilecabinworks]

Wanting to try my hand at some mead.

I can make a decent buy on some local bulk honey. I was told it is unfiltered and will be the consistency of shortening.

Can I/should I consider using this for mead making??

As a commercial bee keeper I can tell you that unfiltered honey will not have any bee parts in it. There is a difference between filtered and strained. The honey you are getting from a local beekeeper, that is labeled as unfiltered, has simply been run through a series of sieves to remove all the debris and wax pieces. This leaves all the florals intact.
Filtered honey has been forced through a fine filter forcibly removing all the flavor in an effort to make it clear for consumers. Unfortunately this removes a lot of the health beneficial properties that honey has to offer (i.e pollen that helps to relieve local allergies). Always buy local unfiltered honey. A lot of the honey you can get from the big grocery stores have a little corn syrup added to keep them from crystalizing, but not enough to have to add it to the label.

Because it is unfiltered it will be thicker and will crystalize quicker. If it's really thick it is crystalized. If it's the consistency of cake frosting it may be whipped honey, which is my favorite thing in the world to eat, but it's a little pricier! If you're making mead the crystalization is a non-issue. It actually means that the honey is stable and will not self-ferment on you. Just heat it up with warm water and make mead.

Cheers.

 

[ArdenS]

I just moved a cranberry mead to secondary in which I used local raw, unfiltered honey. My first time with raw, unfiltered honey, so I've been following the posts here with interest.

 

[UBB]

I'm going to bump this thread instead of making a new one. I'm getting approx 36lb (was told it comes to 12lb/gallon) of local unfiltered honey next week. This is predominantly alfalfa /clover honey.

The plan is to use some sour cherries from our orchard that have been in the freezer for a spell and make some melomel. For you experienced mead makers, do you recommend adding the fruit at fermentation or after? I have read in some of my books thatpost fermentation is preferred for retaining more fruit flavor.

 

[mobilecabinworks]

I would put the fruit in secondary.

 

[fatbloke]

You can do either, or both.

Fruit in primary, will leave plenty of colour, usually, but a lot of the aroma and flavour elements get blown straight out the airlock.

Fruit in primary once the main ferment is over, say at about 1.020, will give a lot more colour, fruit flavour and aroma.

Fruit into secondary will leave the most flavour, colour and aroma - it doesn't really matter if you stabilised the batch first, so it doesn't referment. If you do, then you end up with a slightly sweeter batch that's ready to drink earlier (usually).

I've done all three and my personal preference is for secondary.

p.s. Oh and as for the commercial honey blokes comment about not putting whole or crushed comb into a batch. If it's put in to slightly warm water, then mixed/stirred, the honey will dissolve into it and the wax usually floats and can be "fished" out with a strainer of some sort, or even poured through a sieve. that usually catches it. Plus as there's no alcohol at that stage, too dissolve the wax (which it can do if the wax is placed in a mix that contains a high enough level of alcohol i.e. how polish is made).